Heaven
and Earth Combine
“Earth’s
crammed with heaven…But only he who sees takes off his shoes.”
Elizabeth
Barrett Browning
Here in
Alabama, we are having the one season when life is bracing and beautiful—autumn.
This October has seen temperatures as high as 88 and as low as 32, and in
between are clear, blue-sky, days. If ever one wants to visit Alabama, this is
the time to do it. Don’t take what you hear on the national news to be the only
story of this state. I loathe the politics, and there is enough prideful
ignorance to go around, but there are also many good and decent people who are
trying to do the right thing, as is true everywhere.
These
are the days when you ought to wear a hat when you go out—the wind-driven acorns
falling will knock you down. They sound like bullets hitting the roof. Some of
my neighbors have metal roofs and one can hear the smack of acorns raining
across the neighborhood. Judging from the heavy mast, we’re going to have a cold
winter. At least, that’s what my grandmother used to say.
In
Alabama, I wish people loved the earth as much as they love football. Right
now, folks are packing highways across the state on their way to Jordan-Hare
and Bryant-Denny stadiums. Flags are flying and colors blazing and “Sweet Home,
Alabama” is blasting from radios. Now, with so many outdoor kitchens equipped
with televisions, you don’t have to drive anywhere to take in the games, just
open a window or listen from your porch. My across-the-street neighbor has a
wall-sized tv in the living room, so I can sit in my kitchen window and watch a
play by play. In Alabama, autumn is first and foremost football season.
If you
can tear yourself away from the tv, the earth is crammed with beauty, just
waiting to be discovered all over again. My friend Ellen drove all the way to
Lake Martin in hopes of catching a glimpse of the meteor shower promised this
weekend. I hope she sees lots shooting stars. She’s overdue for some beauty. It’s
a good time to drive the back roads and take in the color, the changing hues of
maple and dogwood, banks of golden rod and flowering grasses. The oakleaf hydrangeas,
native here, are dark red and the camellia buds are beginning to burst open. It’s
not New England, but it’s closer to home.
Yesterday, my friend Harry gave me a little book by Charlie Mackesy titled, The Boy, the Mole,
the Fox and the Horse. It’s a beautiful little masterpiece of hand drawn,
pen-and-ink art and cursive writing with a sweet message spoken between a
little boy and the animals he meets along the way. It’s filled with messages of
hope and love like, “Nothing beats kindness,” said the horse. “It sits
quietly beyond all things.” It’s a book for our time, and for me—all about
love, friendship and helping each other get home. Which, don’t you think, is
what we’re here to do in any season.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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